Royal 5k Race Recap

Runners World's Robert Reese and Me after the Race

Well I never did get to run the OUC Half Marathon that I was posting about a week or so ago. I went to bed super sick Friday night and was up half the night so by the time the alarm went off and my throat was super sore, I decided it was better to stay in bed and rest before going on a cruise the next day. I was a little bummed to miss it, but at least I had the Royal 5k to look forward to. I mentioned it a few weeks ago, but we found out that our cruise was hosting a 5k in St. Maarten as an "excursion" and we signed up! I wasn't really sure what to expect since it was only the 3rd time they had ever hosted a 5k, it was being hosted by a cruise line and it was in another country. Well, I was pleasantly surprised, that's for sure! We saw them advertising at a table by the excursions so figured we'd stop bye and see what it was all about. It turned out to be someone from Runners World (Robert Reese). With our "excursion", we also got access to a few workouts and seminars with the Runners World's Robert Reese, although we missed them all it was cool that they had them. My in-laws offered to watch EM for us during the race so we could actually run vs push her in a stroller which ended up being great considering it rained and was partially on the sandy beach. 

Pre-Race Pep Talk

The Course

My Bib

Before the race started, we met in Studio B (the ice skating rink on board) and got our "packets" which were just race ribs, t-shirts, a copy of Runner's World and map of the course. They also had pre-race refreshments. We also did a pre-race warm up with the Runner's World guy as we waited for the ship to clear customs. They had it all set up so that we'd be the first people off the ship. The Captain and a bunch of crew even ran the race which I thought was super cool! 

Me and Captain Johnny before the Race

The had a race start set up was right off the ship and we started right on time (which was 9am, probably the latest race I've ever ran besides night races). It was supposed to be pretty warm (mid to high 80s) outside but luckily it rained (not just drizzled, actually came down pretty hard) right at the beginning of the race so that kept us cool for the first half. I had never ran in the rain before and was worried about slipping, especially with the uneven roads/course that was set up. It wasn't as bad as I thought and I managed to step in only one small puddle. The police in St. Maarten did shut down the roads for the part of the race that went on the main road and the rest went through the tourist section where the beach is on one side of the walk way and the shops/restaurants are on the other. They had 2 water stops set up (although I had my water bottle so I was good to go) and since it was an "out and back" race you got to pass them both ways. The middle portion of the race was on the beach itself. I wasn't expecting that at all and have never ran on sand before. Luckily, since it had rained, the sand was pretty hard and it was only a small portion (maybe quarter to half mile total). We also did an out and back on a pier before heading back to the finish line which was right back at the ship which was nice because we didn't have to wait for everyone to finish before going back on board to shower and go back out in St. Maarten. They even chipped the race, which I wasn't expecting them to do. 

Pre-Race Selfie

The Rainy Pier with the ships in the background

was running alongside him for a few sec (picture from his site )

Since I couldn't use my RunKeeper for distance (wasn't going to use roaming for a race to use the GPS), I had started it anyways about 9 mins before the race started and just hit "pause" so that the intervals were ready to go. Well apparently it didn't really pause (even though it said it did) because when the race started and I hit "resume" it jumped to around 9 mins or so and was in the middle of an interval. I don't know if this is because of the GPS not working or what but it actually wasn't a big deal because I just ran and eventually caught up with my intervals but since it was raining I decided it was easier to just run than to walk in the rain so I didn't stick to them too much. Overall I felt GREAT running this race, especially considering how sick I had been the few days prior (and even still running I was sick but feeling much better). Because I didn't have my RunKeeper working properly I had no idea what my pace was like so I was pleasantly surprised to see how well I did. My fastest 5k time in a long time (Maybe even since having EM). Our two friends ran with us as well and they too seem o have enjoyed themselves, our one even had her fasted 5k time too! The top 3 winners of the race were crew member but the winning GUEST did win a free cruise! I thought that was a pretty awesome prize. They did give out medals to the top 3 in each age division, but of course I came in 4th for my age group among the guest runners. Oh well, at least I got some good pictures and a T-Shirt :)

My fake finish line picture
(Had to have someone take it after the fact since I finished first of our friends)

And the rest of our group's real finish line pictures (great iPhone quality) 

My Stats:
Official Chip Time: 33:29 (Overall Pace of 10:47)
Place: 109 of 146 Finishers
Place: 6 of 7 in my Women's Age Division (25-29) (2 of the people ahead of me were crew)

G's Stats:
Official Chip Time: 38:31 (Overall Pace of 12:24)
Place: 122 of 146 Finishers
Place: 12 of 15 in his Men's Age Division (30-34) (5 of the people ahead of him were crew)

Linking up with Karly Kim and Glossy Blonde for Totally Posted (and I swear not all of my Totally Posted Tuesday Posts will be about running in the future!)